Brach's factory sale falls through

The real estate firm that agreed to buy the shuttered West Side factory of candy maker Brach's Confections Inc. didn't show up at the Feb. 27 closing of the transaction.

Brach's has sued Highland Park-based Gold Realty Group Corp. in U.S. District Court in Chicago. According to the complaint, Gold agreed last September to pay $2.2 million for the 30-acre property at 401 N. Cicero Ave., but the price later was reduced to $550,000.

After failing to attend the closing, however, Gold asserted that it was still entitled to buy the property and that it planned to record the transaction with the county, the complaint said.

Brach's wants a judge to declare the transaction void and rule that Brach's is entitled to $100,000 in earnest money and attorneys' fees from Gold.

"We acted in good faith and I believe there's no merit to the lawsuit and we hope we can settle with them and still purchase the property," said Gold President Michael Goldstein.

Brach's, which was bought last year by Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut AG, employed about 440 people at the factory, which was shut down Dec. 31.